Cain has fiercely denied the affair as well as several other accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior that have surfaced over the past month and he has repeatedly vowed to stay in the race. He told senior staff in a mid-morning conference call lasting roughly 10 minutes that all public events will go forward this week but he will review the campaign’s strategy over the next several days.

One participant on the call, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the conversation, said that as part of that assessment, Cain’s campaign is examining the impact of the newest allegations. This person described the tone as positive but also said there was some uncertainty coming from Cain.

“He said obviously it’s taken an emotional toll on his family, but he’s moving ahead with the campaign,” said Steve Grubbs, Cain’s Iowa campaign chairman. “He said that they will be reassessing the campaign.”

Grubbs added: “He said this lady was a friend, someone he thought was a friend, that he was trying to help out financially and had been a friend for some period of time. But that nothing inappropriate occurred.”